January 30, 2020      11:35 AM

SB: Overhyped Fort Bend battle apparently part one of Abbott plan to consolidate power by defending GOP Texas House seats

Years after the Straus era when Abbott sought to win Texas House Republicans’ allegiance through challenges to incumbents, the governor now hopes to fill the void left by Bonnen and help defend a potentially smaller GOP Caucus that’s more beholden to him

KATY – A couple weeks before the extremely unsurprising, totally predictable, anti-bellwether special election runoff for a Texas House seat here at the western edge of the Houston sprawl, Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign paid for two mini-pizzas per table at Grazia Italian Kitchen and invited GOP stalwarts to have free lunch. The featured speaker: Abbott’s top political strategist Dave Carney.

At the direction of the New Hampshire-based consultant, Republicans from around Texas were to be bused in as a strike force to put Representative-elect Gary Gates over the top. Free room and board had been promised to those willing to spend the final weekend before election day knocking doors. When the returns came in Tuesday night, Carney was again on hand at Gates’ victory party as it became clear Democrat Eliz Markowitz had been unable to improve much on her November results. It’s a GOP seat, after all.

To say such public appearances by Abbott’s strategist are rare is an understatement. But “all hands on deck” is now the battle cry as Texas enters a new era in campaigns signaling a shift in the ever-evolving relationship between this governor and the Texas House of Representatives.

By Scott Braddock

Copyright January 30, 2020, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved